Over the last few months, I’ve been reminded that my point of view matters. My perspective can change a situation completely.

Before you get it twisted, this isn’t a blog telling you to keep a positive attitude. (But just in case you are wondering, you should definitely try!)

This isn’t going to be a long post, I just want to encourage you to share what’s really on your heart or how you feel. I realized that I would censor myself based on how others may interpret what I was going to say. Through that process, I ended up getting hurt in the long run. If you don’t offer your point of view to the situation, no one will ever see it the way you do.

In order to illustrate my prior point, I’m going to use an example that may offend many. If you know me, you probably know I am a very “go with the flow” type of person. I don’t mind a lot of things. I do however dislike Mexican Food. Yes, I said it, well I’ll take that back and say Tex-Mex. Either way, I don’t like it and it seems everyone around me does! For the longest time, I would just go with the flow until finally one day I cracked… “I DON’T WANT TO GO!” I had to let it be known that I was tired of it. And guess what happened next… NOTHING haha. We still eat Tex-Mex. BUT not as much!

I love the group of people I’m surrounded by because we are all different. Society tells you to surround yourself with people just like you but honestly, that’s boring! What if Vincent Van Gogh only had one shade of yellow to use? I don’t believe he would be the Van Gogh we all know today.

My mind has been opened through conversation with many different people. I’ll highlight one person in particular. Kevin, who is actually one of the writers for TMLU, and I are completely different. The way we think, the situations we’ve been through, the paths that we’ve walked, but we have honestly had some of the best conversations. Even though we have to agree to disagree at times, I always leave having a fuller picture about an issue.

One of my favorite artists is Emeli Sande. Her song “Read All About It Part 3” speaks to me every time I listen! (Haha for all my good ORU friends you most likely have this memorized!) The first verse alone is a constant reminder to share what I see!

You’ve got a heart as loud as lionsSo why let your voice be tamed?Baby, we’re a little differentThere’s no need to be ashamedYou’ve got the light to fight the shadowsSo stop hiding it away

-Read All about It Part 3 by Emeli Sande

There is a lot of craziness going on in the world right now. In America, people seem to be building a line of division when we should be opening lines of communication. I encourage you to sit and talk to someone different than you. That is probably one of my favorite things to do. Sit one on one with someone and just talk. Especially if I wasn’t raised the same way as them.

Stop painting with just yellow! Let others join you in creating this work of art called life! Add your yellow to other peoples’ paintings. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.